Scripture: Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them. The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple. I open my mouth and pant, because I long for your commandments. Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your way with those who love your name. Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me. Redeem me from man’s oppression, that I may keep your precepts. Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes. My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law. -Psalm 119:129-136, ESV

Observation: -The LORD's testmonies are wonderful, they are the words that give light and understanding -God is gracious to those who love His name. -a prayer for God to keep us from iniquity, to stay the course

Sunny Day at the Beach-taken in December along the Sonoma Coast.

Application: Sometimes when I read the Psalms they become the prayer of my heart. This section is a wonderful model of how to pray. In many ways it reminds of the Lord's Prayer found in Matthew 6:9-13. There is an acknowledgement of who God is , how wonderful His ways are, and our need to do things His way. There is an admission of the presence of sin in our lives and the realization that it is only in God's power that we can be free from temptation. There is a desire to see everyone follow God's ways and a heartbreak that not everyone is of the same mind -to see God's will done on earth as it is heaven.

There is one line that really stands out to me this morning, however. The unfolding of God's words imparts understanding "to the simple." God's word is for all of us, and can be understood by each and everyone of us no matter what our education level. It is the tool God uses to teach us. That is not to say that it is not difficult to understand at times. Scholars have struggled for centuries with it and come to differing conclusions on many things within it. Which brings to mind days gone by when Ken was in graduate school. He would be locked in a struggle to make sense of some theoretical mathematics and gave me the job of reminding him when he got stuck that he was making it too difficult. Quite often the answer was obvious if he just stopped struggling to make it harder than it needed to be. Sometimes I wonder if that is not the way many approach God's word; making harder than it needs to be.

I want to close with this video a friend shared on Facebook. These Chinese Christians have just received their very first Bibles. While Bibles are not banned in China their production and distribution is regulated by the government. The demand is far greater than the availability. Do you know what a treasure you hold in your hands?